Then Came Grain Brain

So I love The Plan.  Let's just get that straight.  Without The Plan I don't think I'd ever been able to figure out the foods that were making me fat or just plan old giving me inflammation.   I strongly believe that if I were ever to get too skinny (fingers crossed) and wanted to gain weight, I'd just whip out some Swiss chard,  sweet potatoes, a little beef and 'Walla'! -Poof - I'm fat again.  Just that easy.

Still yet, with all the love I have for The Plan I still haven't been able to break the plateau line.  I mean, 127, 127, 131 aren't bad numbers, but I WANT TO BE IN CONTROL OF THE NUMBERS!  ME!!

So recently I read Grain Brain by Dr. Perlmutter.  I saw him on Dr. Oz and decided to pick up his book.  It was a very easy read - I mean if you have a few hours, you'd be done with it in a day.  Great book.  It really opened my eyes to what eating grains has done and is doing to many folks, young and old alike.  Nonetheless, I decided to adopt his concepts of eating more fat and further reducing my carb (fruit included) intake.  And guuuuuuuuuuess what?!!! I started breaking the plateau line!  "Queue the music."

The first 2 days after I started eating more 'good' fats I could see a significant drop on the scales.  The other thing I found and like about his approach of which I've incorporated with The Plan, is that he has no 'set' breakfast, lunch or dinner you're 'suppose to' eat.  He just says 'don't eat this, and eat as much of that as you like.'  That's pretty much it.

So I started eating more fat and found that there's actually but so much good fat you can eat before ya just can't eat any more - you're full and satiated.  Still yet, I'm finding that if I eat too much sneaky food (potato or potato chips, sugar drinks -including fruit juice), the weight will show back up.

Breakfast (1) I've been eating ground flax, semi-ground pumpkin seeds, a couple of tablespoons of chia seeds soaked in coconut milk, coconut slivers, cinnamon, nutmeg, coconut milk, about a tablespoon of goat milk and just a wee bit of dried cranberries and 1/2 cup blueberries.   With that, I'm not hungry again until lunch.

Breakfast (2) consist of 2 eggs, manchego or goat cheese, olives, cooked in butter and coconut oil, with slices of avocado.  YUM!

So all I'm saying here is if you plateau try giving Grain Brain a read and see if upping your fat and lowering your carbs (like eating 1/2 a piece of fruit instead of a whole) will work for you.

Yep! I'm still on The Plan

So it's going on a year since I started The Plan.  I've had weight ups and downs, but each and every time my weight went too far up I jumped right back on Day 1 of The Plan and it HAS NOT FAILED ME ONCE! I can seeeeemingly ALWAYS get the weight back off within the first 4 days of following The Plan or eating known, non-reactive Plan food.

I'm still not down to the 120 lbs I so desire, but almost every pair of jeans I thought were "just for young folks" (cause they wouldn't fit my fat-ass) are now a staple in my wardrobe.  Some of my jeans are even super baggy in the butt parts.  (I love showing-off that part.  It probably looks crazy but boy that extra material hangin off the bottom of my butt sure feels goooood to me!)

So I'm most definitely still on The Plan and I continue to discover what is reactive and non-reactive for me.  I realize that this body they give us is really a puzzle we're to figure out how it works.  I suppose sickness or health is a sign that you're winning or losing the Flesh Bag game of life.

I'm still very excited about The Plan and think that its genius.

Oh yeah, about a month ago we stayed at a resort where there was a special celebration along with a buffet. "Did someone say buffet?"  "Wellllllllll why didn't you say so?!!! Here's my money, where's the plateS?" annnnd Yep, I ate everything I could possibly get my hands on.  Seriously.  I ate and tried just about everything they had out on the tables.  I mean there was food everywhere.  It was fun.  And as soon as I got home I just jumped on The Plan, Day 1 and that's all she wrote.  My weight is back to normal - not 120 lbs normal but 130, 127, 127 normal (those are weights from 3 scales).

Ho Hum

I didn't sleep well last night.  I feel asleep around 10:30 but I must have woken up - wide awake - at around 2:30.  Grrrrr!  I couldn't get back to sleep.  I could swear there was some kind of work going on outside as I kept hearing a machine like hum.  I really wanted to go outside to see if I could see what was going on.  But I didn't.  Grrr!

I have some hypnosis apps that I like to use, and normally I fall right asleep listening.  Last night, however, I just couldn't get my 'drift-off' on.  So today, Tuesday, I was not on my 'Plan' game.  I didn't finish my cup of detox tea, I made no maca mix and then mid morning I started craving corn chips.  I was at home and they were in the cabnet, so we met up in the family room.  Then later in the day I scarfed down some big hunks of chocolate and Oh no, I didn't stop there - before dinner I had a big old hunk-a glass of Sirah.  I did eat my breakfast, lunch and dinner according to The Plan, but I just had some parties in between.

Tomorrow will be better, but I can feel the fat particles right now, and I know the scale is gonna speak to me in the mornin!  But I know I'll get back on track because this is working.  I know that as long as I up the protein, but just not too much and stick to fruit and vegetables that I know will work, I'll be just fine.

My goal weight now if 116.  I think that's a sexy weight and I can only imagine all the nicer, cuter clothes I'll be able to wear.

Raw Try

Today I'm trying something new for breakfast. 

Soaked over night Buckwheat.

add 1 cup to a blender (Vita mixer or BlendTec (I have a BlendTec : ))
add coconut milk
       1/2 apple or pear
       raisins or cranberries
       cinnamon, cardomon, turmeric
       raw pumpkin seeds

blend until its creamy and smooth.  Top with 1/2 chopped apple or pear, and Enjoy!

You can probably also heat this in the BlendTec or on the stove if you want something warm.

And I pretty much know this is non-reactive because I have no bloating or acid-reflux reaction after eating it.  So its added to 'stuff I can eat'!

Can you say "Plateuuuuuu"? I can! Grrrrr!

Today:
Soooo, my fellow Planners, it seems I've plateaued.  "Ooooooh NOOOOOO!"  Not the plateau monster?!  Yes!  The monster has arrived.  I've gotten stuck at 131, 127, 127!!!  Those are not bad weights but my real goal is to know and understand my body and how to adjust it at will.  I was hoping to be closer to 120 by now.  I'm 5'4" so I do believe I could possibly pull it off, but still yet, a sold 125 would probably be best for someone my height and age.

So here's the plan (no pun intended)  I'm going to write about what I'm eating, drinking and sleeping and see if I can be honest enough with myself to pinpoint what could be causing my weight to be budge proof.

This morning it seems I picked up a pound, however I'm wearing a pair of pants that only a few months ago I deluded myself into believing had shrunk in the wash.  As of today they're baggy on me - so much so, that I'm having to wear a belt.  Those are not bad results as I haven't worn these pants in over a year.  And when I wore them last I vowed to never put myself though that agony ever again!  They were tight and tortured me all day long.  Today, I can hardly tell they're on.  So that's good, but not 120-lbs-good!

So I do believe that I, me, may be reactive to honey.  I've been battling a sore throat recently and ate some honey mixed with turmeric last night as cough medicine.  It doesn't really matter because I believe that I knew, prior to The Plan, that I'm reactive to honey.  So I haven't had any honey today but I believe that may be in part where the extra weight or 'non-budge' may have originated.

The next day:
 So now let's combine my having no more honey, increasing my protein which was one lamb shank and sautéed Kale with onion, a Zumba class and "Walla"!  I'm down a pound.  Yipeeeee! 

But what I really think is making this work again is the increase in protein and my refraining from unsalted potato chips as well as honey.  Oh yeah, and I increased my kelp intake.  I'm shaking on more kelp and have been making seaweed chips.  I just use sushi paper, moisten with lemon, water and chili pepper.  Then roast at 250 for 15 minutes or until they are crunchy like chips.

I'm still having the Flax G with blueberries and coconut milk and I do believe that continues to be non-reactive.   Lunch is basically the same as what's noted in the plan - salad along with Anti-inflam soup or a cook vegetable.  Dinner is always the tricky one.  But I'm going to push forward with having a hardy portion of a non-reactive protein with a green or Timbale and then we'll see what happens.

Back On Track

Well I do believe it may have been the goat cheese that caused me to pick up that extra pound on Friday.  So I hunkered down and now, as of this morning, I'm down about 1 1/2 lbs or from 132.0 to 130.8. Not bad. 
Saturday morning I ate the flax granola, lunch was a smaller salad and smaller bowl of soup.  Dinner was mixed greens with roasted chicken wings (2 wings precisely - I couldn't eat much more than that) with sauteed carrots, ginger and kale in a little coconut milk.  My indulgence however was about 2 cups of popcorn and a few unsalted chips.  I found that if I eat chips slooooowly then my digestion isn't upset.  Still yet, I can only eat a few.

So, again, I'm back on track but actually was hoping to have the heaviest scale displaying something under 130 this weekend.  I'll just keep working at it.

Ut Oh!

Well it looks like I picked up a pound yesterday.  I weighed in this morning and "Arrrrgh!"  a whole pound!  Craaaaap!  I was really looking forward to my heaviest scale saying 130.  I was at 131.2, 127 & 127 just yesterday.  But 2 of the 3 scales seem to be showing a consistent one lb gain.  So I'm 'on it' today.  No fartin around with testing anything.  Just the basics.   Anti-inflammartory soup and a simple salad for lunch and dinner will be close to the same but with a protein.

Honestly I don't know what happened yesterday.  I messed around with a few things that could have been the 1 lb culprit.  I normally don't show reaction to wine, but last night I did drink a little bit of wine sort of late at night and really close to my bedtime.  When I drank it, I almost automatically felt an odd, uncomfortable, almost acid-refluxy feeling.  Oh yeah, I didn't tell you about my acid-reflux that pretty much became a thing of the past since The Plan.  I SWEAR I had horrible, horrible digestive issue.  I mean, before The Plan I eat lunch or dinner and then I'd have to sit really still for a long time until the stress, anxieity, "OMG am I having a HA?!!" went away.  But now, on The Plan, it's like that never happened. 

Anyway, back to the pound.  So it could have been drinking that little bit of wine too late at night, maybe I enduldged in more chocolate than I should have and (hehehehe) I had some chips too.  Ok, ok!!! Geeez! Shut up!  I get it!  I was a little piggy yesterday.  Oh yes, one other thing I'm remembering now;  I added goat cheese to my salad yesterday instead of manchego.   Hummm.....  now that actually makes more sense.  Hummm.... ok, no goat chesse for the next few days and I'll stick with the wine and chocolate, but not past 7:00pm.  And then I'll report back.

Thanks for reading.  Please make comments and have a Planned day!!!